Yeach Germany Holland tonight. Wich team will I support???
I guess Germany. If Holland can't even win frome thos crazy Belgians in an exibition match how could they beat Germany.
Go Manshaft bring on the blitzkrieg <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badsmile2.gif" alt="" />
I'm still undecided. I wonder whether I will watch it or miss it at all . <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />
A Mannschaft is a team ; it comes from the German word Mann which means man, but gender-specific. It doesn't has a neutral form which could be used as "people" or "humankind" in general as it is possible in Englisch. For that neutral meaning, the German word "Mensch" would be used.
The Opposite of Mann is Frau, and of man it is woman. The word "FRau" is said to come from the word "frouwe" , which means "Herrin", a word similar to "Herr", which is a) a polite form of adressing a person , and b) a word like "master" (but for Master we have the word "Meister").
The Meister is who will win the game. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
So a Mannschaft is a team made up of men. But astonishing there if no "Frauschaft" common in German language. A german soccer team consisting entirely of women could be a "Frauschaft", but no-one says so. Maybe in several years it's common <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> , but not now.
About the "schaft" ending : You have something similar in English : The "ship" ending. Championschip, for example. Which would be Meisterschaft in German. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
The Blitzkrieg is seemingly a Nazi invention; it is never used in common language here - there is no need to. A blitz is a flash (flash & thunder, you know <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> ) and a Krieg is simply a War. It's fast, swift, and quickly, so to say. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />
We don't use it for anything fast; if there was a fast war, we would possibly use that word to describe it, but somehow Nazi words are more or less "banned" in common German language. That's why I hate the expression "Grammar-Nazi" I've read several times at boards mainly visited by Americans.